A SCHOOLGIRL left bald by burns suffered in a kitchen accident has finally returned to the classroom – after pioneering surgery to attach a new head of hair.

Sidra Afzal, now nine, missed nearly four years of school after she was burned with hot oil after an accident at her home in Blackwood.

She was told her hair would never grow back – only to defy the odds by growing a “piggyback” head of hair to cover the injury.

But doctors had to carry out the painful procedure twice after the first effort failed to cover little Sidra’s extensive scarring.

She finally had the stitches taken out six weeks ago, and yesterday the brave schoolgirl returned to the classroom in Fleur-de-Lis Primary school to show off her new locks to her friends.

Sidra said: “I cried a lot when I didn’t have any hair because I wanted to look like all my friends.

“But now I have my hair back and I love brushing it and playing with it. It’s just lovely.

“I’m very happy to be back at school, I’ve missed everyone.”

Sidra may be only nine but she has already decided she wants to be a burns doctor when she is older.

She was just two when she suffered 25% burns from hot fat in an accident at home.

Her scalp was left hairless and scarred along the left side of her head.

Sidra underwent a painful procedure to implant an empty balloon under her scalp, which was then inflated to encourage the growth of more hair.

But the original procedure had to be repeated to give Sidra a full head of hair.

After finally returning to school, her mum Saba, 42, said: “She has been looking forward to going back for such a long time and now that day has come. Sidra has been having tuition at home and has been getting good marks.

“She has been so brave and never complains even though she has suffered terrible pain and headaches.

“And she has been inspired by the team of specialists who treated her. If you ask Sidra what she wants to do when she’s older, she says she’d like to be a burns doctor.”

Mother-of-four Saba added: “Even if it had not worked she would still have the most magical smile you’ve ever seen.”

Dr Bill Dickson, director of the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital, said: “The expanded skin has successfully covered all the baldness she had.

“It was a complex operation but the commitment shown by Sidra in the months leading up to this operation has been remarkable.

“She is a very cheerful child and has been co-operative throughout, even though there were times it must have been uncomfortable for her.”